This invention relates to apparatus and articles adapted for shelf storage, and to garages having overhead garage doors.
Articles such as wooden poles, wooden boards, and long handled hand tools are commonly stored standing on end and tilted into a corner of a common residential garage. Such storage method undesirably tends to cause the boards and poles to warp, and undesirably takes up garage floor space. As a suitable alternate, shelves for storage of such items may be mounted upon the walls of a residential garage. However, wall mounted shelves undesirably encroach laterally into the useful automobile parking space of the garage.
The instant inventive garage overhead storage assembly solves or ameliorates the garage storage space problems and deficiencies noted above by providing an economically constructed and mechanically simple shelf assembly, which unobtrusively occupies unused overhead space between a garage""s ceiling and a garage""s opened overhead garage door.
A typical exemplary residential garage has a nine foot interior ceiling comprising joists, rafters, or trusses, and comprising an immediately underlying ceiling panel consisting of xe2x80x9csheet rockxe2x80x9d or gypsum ceiling board attached with screws or nails. Such garage commonly has a large garage door opening extending through a wall of the garage, such door opening commonly having dimensions approximately seven feet high and ten feet wide for a single automobile garage. Commonly, the joists, rafters, or trusses of the ceiling of the garage extend perpendicularly from the front wall which includes the door opening, and such joists, rafters, or trusses are commonly arranged twenty-four inches apart xe2x80x9con center.xe2x80x9d
Garage door roller tracks are typically mounted upon such garage wall, the roller tracks extending upwardly along the lateral inner edges of the garage door opening to the top of the opening, the roller tracks thence arcuately curving upwardly and inwardly forming arms extending into the interior space of the garage a distance approximately equal to the height of the garage door opening. Metal hanger brackets are typically lag bolted to the wooden frame members of the garage ceiling, such hanger brackets typically extending downwardly to interconnect with and rigidly support the inwardly extending arms of the roller tracks. A laterally sectioned and hingedly connected garage door having a plurality of laterally extending rollers is rollably mounted upon the roller tracks for alternate overhead opening and closing of the garage door opening. Typically, a torsion spring assist system or an extension spring assist system is utilized for assistance in opening and closing the garage door.
In application of the present inventive garage overhead storage assembly to the exemplary garage and garage door described above, it may be noted that the space which underlies the garage ceiling and which overlies the garage door when opened, constitutes a particularly advantageous space for utilization for storage. Use of such space for storage advantageously takes up no wall space which is utilizable for other purposes, and takes up no floor space. Also, homeowners typically do not view such space as constituting a part of a garage""s useful overhead ceiling space, since such space is surrounded by garage door apparatus as described above. Thus, such space underlying the garage ceiling and overlying the opened overhead garage door may be advantageously utilized for storage without detracting from any actual or perceived function of the garage""s interior space.
In assembling the instant inventive garage overhead storage assembly within the exemplary storage space described above, three ceiling catching beams approximately ten feet long are placed within the attic space of the garage, the beams preferably comprising xe2x80x9c2xc3x974xe2x80x9d boards. Such beams are necessarily positioned within the attic space so that they overlie the ceiling and so that they extend perpendicularly across the ceiling""s joists, rafters, or trusses. Preferably, the ceiling catching beams are further positioned so that they overlie the garage door when opened, and so that they are spaced evenly along the joists, rafters, or trusses at approximate three and one-half foot intervals.
Each of the three ceiling catching beams necessarily has at least a first and a second tie receiving aperture extending vertically therethrough; and preferably, in the particular exemplary application, has three of such apertures therethrough. The preferred trio of tie receiving apertures are preferably spaced and positioned along the ceiling catching beams so that one aperture is centrally located, and so that the other two apertures are positioned inwardly from the ends of the beam approximately six inches. Preferably, the apertures are one inch in diameter facilitating their secure receipt of ties, preferably comprising one inch piping or tubing. One inch circular ceiling panel apertures are similarly drilled through the ceiling panel directly below the ceiling catching beam apertures, the ceiling panel apertures allowing such ties to extend vertically through both the ceiling panel and the ceiling catching beams.
Nine ties, preferably comprising lengths of economically obtained one inch steel electrical conduit, are extended through the apertures of the ceiling catching beams, and through the ceiling panel apertures. Necessarily, the lengths of such ties are fitted so that they extend downwardly through the storage space from the garage ceiling to an elevation slightly overlying the overhead garage door when opened.
Preferably, the upper end of each tie comprises a laterally extending shear pin receiving eye or aperture. Flat round washers are preferably placed over the upper ends of the ties, such washers resting upon the upper surfaces of the ceiling catching beams. Shear pins, preferably cotter pins, are transversely extended through such eyes for downward engagement with the flat washers. So configured, the cotter pin, eye, washer, and ceiling catching beam combinations serve as slide stopping means, resisting downward motion of the ties with respect to the garage ceiling.
Shelf catching beams and lower cotter pin, eye, and flat washer combinations configured substantially identically with the upper structure described above, are preferably fixedly attached to the lower ends of the ties.
A shelf, preferably comprising a plurality of xe2x80x9c1xc3x974xe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9c1xc3x976xe2x80x9d wooden slats or boards is preferably disposed over the shelf catching ties, the upper surfaces of such slats serving as a shelf storage surface.
Slide stopping means which may be alternately suitably utilized at the upper and lower ends of the ties include helically threaded cap and washer combinations, annularly flanged tie ends, laterally hooked tie ends, and configuration of the tie ends to include enlarged heads and feet.
Suitable alternate shelf materials comprise plywood, plastic sheets, fiberglass sheets, metal sheets, composite board sheets, fiber board sheets, and masonite board sheets.
Where the ties comprise metal tubing, plastic caps are preferably provided for protectively covering the open ends of the tubes. In order to seal any gaps between the upper ends of the ties and the ceiling panel, ceiling trim rings extending annularly around the ties are preferably provided.
Where the garage ceiling""s joists, rafters, or trusses extend parallel to the garage door wall, the ceiling catching beams are necessarily re-oriented 90xc2x0 so that they cross and catch the joists, rafters, or trusses.
In use of the inventive garage overhead storage assembly, various elongated articles including wooden boards may be stored upon the upper surface of the shelf without interfering with opening and closing motion of the overhead garage door. Such assembly unobtrusively utilizes for storage the space overlying such garage door.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present inventive garage overhead storage assembly to utilize space overlying an opened overhead garage door for storage of articles.
It is a further object of said invention to provide a structure and assembly which economically accomplishes such storage objective.
It is a further objective of such invention to provide structure and assembly which achieves such storage objective through use of mechanically simple components.